In numerous environments, the most noticeable being trade shows and the like, the need exists to build an exhibit which is highly attractive so that it will attract potential customers. If a given exhibit is of sufficient importance or if it is to remain in place for an extended period of time, the exhibitor might be willing to have the exhibit custom built, notwithstanding the fact that a custom built exhibit is costly and must be essentially demolished when the usefulness of the exhibit is finished. The difficulty, however, is that most exhibits tend to have a rather short life, perhaps only a few days or at a maximum, a few weeks. In this case, which is the more common situation for trade show exhibits and the like, it will be more difficult for the exhibitor to justify the extensive costs of a custom built exhibit. This economic limitation on the costs which can be applied to a relatively short lived exhibit will often result in a less attractive or less impressive exhibit which will render it impossible to maximize the main purpose of the exhibit itself, namely to attract a maximum number of customers or potential customers.
To overcome this difficulty, attempts have been made heretofore to develop a system of panels which can be assembled together into an attractive exhibit and then disassembled and stored or transported for future use. An example of this concept is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,166 to Hanna.
Another approach, which has been used by the Assignee of the present application for several years, comprises a plurality of panels, generally rectangular, having an open, central U-shaped groove extending along the periphery of all four edges thereof with a lateral U-shaped groove extending alongside both sides of each central grooves. The two lateral U-shaped grooves are used to attach the decorative material such as fabric or the like which covers the face of the panel. The central U-shaped groove was used to connect adjacent panels together by inserting a relatively flat rod (shaped like a ruler, yard stick or the like, but somewhat thicker and having rounded sides) into the two facing central grooves of two separate panels brought together edge-to-edge.
However, these prior attempts to provide an assimilable and disassembiable, and hence reusable, exhibit have not been completely successful A primary difficulty has been the inability to provide a versatile and yet strong connector system which will permit the panels to be connected together in many different configurations, be sufficiently strong to assure the structural integrity of the exhibit during the full length of time that it is in place and still allow for relatively simple assembly and disassembly of the exhibit.